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Dima Wannous
Dima Wannous studied French Literature at Damascus University and the Sorbonne. She has a diploma in translation from the University of Leon, France, and from 2003 to 2006 worked as a translator and Radio Damascus French news announcer. Also, since 2003 she has written on politics and culture for Assafir, al-Akhbar and Al-Hayat newspapers.
She published her debut short story collection Tafasil [Details] in 2007 (Dar al-Mada, Damascus), which caught the eye of literary critics. Her debut novel (The Chair) came out in 2008. In 2009, she was selected as one of the Hay Festival’s Beirut39 group, the 39 best Arab writers below the age of 40.
An excerpt of her latest novel Al khaifoun (The Frightened), is published in Banipal 57 – Syria in the Heart, translated especially for the issue by Julia Ihnatowicz. The novel's protagonist fears
fear itself, the novel taking on that very question – “the very fear of fear”that
“has permeated the souls of most Syrians for many decades”. The novel has been shortlisted for the 2018 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Dima Wannous is represented by the literary agency Raya Agency. Click here for more details on her work
Contributor's Issues
Banipal 57 - Syria in the Heart (Autumn/Winter 2016)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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